Surrey firefighters were forced to resort to logging 999 calls using pen and paper last week during a crippling IT failure.

A system failure at Surrey Fire Emergency Control was reported at 5.39pm last Monday (July 19), which also affected Surrey Fire and Rescue Service's (SF&RS) Automatic Vehicle Location System - leading to delays locating fire engines.

Lee Belsten, secretary of the Fire Brigade Union in Surrey, said: “When systems are down, control operators have to resort to using pen and paper to log 999 calls, then mobilise each fire appliance using an antiquated and slower method to mobilise them.

“It also means fire crews who respond to the incident are left without the information and detail they would normally expect to have.

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An SCC spokesman said: “We suffered some unfortunate IT issues late on Monday [July 17] that disrupted some county council including fire and rescue systems.

"Our IT teams worked incredibly hard through the night to fix the issue while staff used well-rehearsed and planned processes to ensure that every 999 call was answered and responded to appropriately.”